Comfort, Comfort Now My People
Isaiah 40 set to a dance tune, which is stranger and better than it sounds.
The words
Comfort, comfort ye, my people, Speak ye peace, thus saith our God; Comfort those who sit in darkness, Mourning 'neath their sorrow's load; Speak ye to Jerusalem Of the peace that waits for them; Tell her that her sins I cover, And her warfare now is over.
For the herald's voice is crying In the desert far and near, Bidding all men to repentance, Since the kingdom now is here. O, that warning cry obey! Now prepare for God a way! Let the valleys rise to meet Him, And the hills bow down to greet Him.
Make ye straight what long was crooked, Make the rougher places plain; Let your hearts be true and humble, As befits His holy reign; For the glory of the Lord Now o'er earth is shed abroad, And all flesh shall see the token That His Word is never broken.
As printed in Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church (1917), no. 8. Public domain: free to print, copy and share.
Old words in this hymn
- Ye
- you (speaking to several people)
- O’er
- over
About this hymn
The words are the opening of Isaiah 40: comfort my people, speak tenderly, the warfare is ended. The tune is a sixteenth-century Genevan psalm melody that skips. It has a lilt you can almost step to.
That mismatch is the point. Consolation here is not a hand on the shoulder and a lowered voice. It arrives at a run, with news.
Second Sunday of Advent, when the reading turns to a man in the wilderness shouting about a highway.
For musicians and planners
| Words | Johann Olearius, 1671 | Public domain |
|---|---|---|
| Translation | Catherine Winkworth, 1863 | Public domain |
| Tune | FREU DICH SEHR (GENEVAN 42) · Louis Bourgeois (Genevan Psalter, 1551), 1551 | Public domain |
Checked 2026-09-27 against Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church (1917), no. 8, via hymnary.org page scan (p. 334) and transcription; cross-checked word for word against Church Book (General Council; 1890 printing), no. 119, hymnary.org page scan (p. 87 of the book)
Hymn numbers checked against Hymnary.org’s index of Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Full record: Hymnary.